THE United Arab Emirates (UAE) in planning to TOW icebergs from Antarctica to its coast in order to help with drinking water issues.

The scorching Middle Eastern country, and much of the transcontinental region, is in the midst of a drought with some studies suggesting a water shortage could last for the next 25 years.

The UAE, which is among the top 10 water-scarce countries in the world, hopes to help ease the stress of a drinking water shortage by towing an iceberg from the freezing Antarctica in order to create more drinking water.

The National Advisor Bureau Limited’s (NABL) managing Director Abdullah Mohammad Sulaiman Al Shehi says an average iceberg contains "more than 20 billion gallons of water” which would be enough for one million people over five years.

Up to four-fifths of an iceberg’s mass is underwater, and due to their vast density, they would theoretically not melt in the boiling climate of the Middle Eastern coastal line.

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Mr Al Shehi says it could take up to a year to drag the huge body of ice up to the UAE, and the project is set to begin in 2018.

Not only will it partially solve a water crisis, but it could also become a tourist attraction.

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The iceberg could be enough for one million people over five years

Once the iceberg is in place, the NABL will begin “chipping off blocks of the iceberg above the water line and then crushing the pure polar ice into drinking water which would be stored in large water tanks and then filtered through a water processing plant”.

Additionally, Mr Al Shehi says that it could create a mini-climate which could also help with the crisis.

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The UAE is experiencing a water shortage

He said: “Cold air gushing out from an iceberg close to the shores of the Arabian Sea would cause a trough and rainstorms across the Arabian Gulf and the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula all year round.

“As the rising air expands, cools and condenses due to the decrease in air pressure. Water vapour is collected in the clouds, they become heavy and falls as rain."